


The World Before You Were Born

by anarchycox



Series: Anarchycox's 2019 Personal Writing Challenge [13]
Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Storytelling, bedtimes stories, harry is a dramatic grandfather, moves between present and past, retelling of how parents fell in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 00:08:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18376886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anarchycox/pseuds/anarchycox
Summary: Grandfathers Harry and Merlin tell their granddaughter Paige a bedtime story which is a highly edited and fantasy-ed up tale of how her father Eggsy met her father Sebastian.Sebastian is an OC that is fancasted as Richard Madden and created by and played with via permission of eggsyobssessed.





	The World Before You Were Born

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Eggsyobsessed](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eggsyobsessed/gifts).



“Now then, how about we read...Sleeping Beauty?” Merlin suggested.

“Grandpa…” she sighed dramatically. “No.”

“Of course my dear, you are correct, what is Grandpa thinking?” Harry tsked Merlin. “It is clearly a Cinderella night.”

“Ugh, Grandest One, I want the real story,” she complained. 

“I still cannot believe you got that to stick,” Merlin whispered to Harry.

“Am I not the grandest of them all?” Harry countered. “Now then...what about your Bad Guys books, or Captain Underpants. He is quite amusing.”

“I want the real story. The secret story!” she glared at them both. “Stop teasing, and do it right.” At a look from both of them, she shrunk a little. “Please, can I have our story?”

“Of course,” Harry said and smoothed her flyaway hair down, it was so fine, and a demon to braid with the arthritis in his fingers. But he always did it for her when she asked. He nudged her and she lay down on the absurd princess bed he had picked out for her and that Merlin had then painted black and sparkle silver at her request a few months ago. Her room at her grandfather’s house was an incredible mix of princess and goth for a four year old. But Paige was an incredible mix of the influences in her life. She spent almost as much time at her grandfather’s as her father’s, with how much her dad traveled and her daddy was busy at night with weddings and parties. “Now who are you sleeping with tonight?”

“Sir Bunnykins, The Great Monster Boo, Corporal Turtle, and Jonathan.”

Merlin went to the wall and dutifully grabbed the four stuffies and arranged them around her and put Jonathan the walrus into her open arms. “They will keep you well looked after.”

“Just like you two,” she said, “Just like Dad and Daddy.”

“Aye, you are a well cared for girl.” Merlin kissed her head and settled on the end of the bed and Harry was in the chair in the corner. “Now then once upon a time there was magic in the land. Heroes and wizards who protected the people. Grand men -”

“And women,” Paige said, “Auntie Roxy says women are heroes too. Wonder Woman is a hero.”

“Aye, and women,” Merlin replied and smiled a little at her. “Grand knights protected the world and lived by a code just and true, lead by King Arthur, a man of unfathomable skill and loyalty.”

Paige looked eagerly to Harry for the interjection he always gave then and he nodded.

“But Arthur could not have lead alone. He had his wizard, Merlin, at his side. A man who could change fate and keep knights alive even when all other hope was lost. And the best knight under their command was Galahad. There had never been and never will be a knight with truer heart than him.”

“One day, the wizard Merlin, read portents in his scrying mirror and knew that trouble was coming to the kingdom. He warned Arthur, and Arthur listened.” Merlin gave Harry a look at that, as it was a rather foreign concept for the the man. “A knight was chosen to ride out and protect the kingdom from the darkness that was coming.”

“Galahad!” she crowed happily. “They sent Galahad!”

“Shh, my dear, rest your eyes,” Harry told her. “Yes, Galahad was sent to save the world.”

*************************

“What the fuck do you mean mysterious black smoke that is killing people in South London?” Eggsy asked. He looked at Harry and Merlin. “Like what do you actually mean? How do we even know about it?”

“Social media,” Merlin admitted. “People are tweeting about an old black smoke in building, thinking it is a spate of fires. Arson.”

“You mean the reasonable response?” Eggsy asked.

Merlin tapped at his board and some footage was put up on the screen. “Eggsy look at that smoke, it is directed. It is being controlled. And then it disappears and anywhere from one to a dozen are dead within hours. It is an airborne poison and we need to stop it before they figure out how to make it invisible.”

“Do we have any leads at all?” Eggsy shook his head. “You have four videos and a few more witness reports and how many dead?”

“Forty three,” Merlin replied. “That is too many for mere happenstance. No my bet this is human testing. Too random to be anything else. And targeting working class buildings. Block buildings.”

Eggsy’s jaw tightened. “People they figure the filth won’t care too much about.”

“But we care,” Harry replied. “And you have the best chance of getting any information out of people. We do have one specific lead for you - Sebastian Gregson.”

“Who?”

“A photographer,” Merlin said, “Weddings and the like. He was dropping off proofs for a family and took these photographs.” He put them up on the screen. “It is a miracle he isn’t dead.”

“Chance or it doesn’t affect everyone?”

Merlin just shrugged. “Samples of him would be helpful to answer that.”

Eggsy nodded. “So, chat him up, see if he remembers anything. Fuck him, get your samples, get gone.”

“It is our only lead,” Arthur said. “Merlin will send you all the details.”

“Understood,” Eggsy said and gave them a nod and went to his office, knowing that Merlin will send the files meant that they had already been sent.

********************************

“Galahad went forth to defeat the evil magic that was starting to plague the land. He was given one name to trust on his journey, the seer Ti’an. He traveled a perilous journey through dark wood and somber glen before he arrived at the cursed village. He sought the seer and was shocked when it was not an old man, but in fact a few years younger than he. Never before had he personally known one who carried the gift of sight at such a young age,” Merlin kept his voice low and smooth, knowing it would lull her to sleep. As of yet she had never managed to stay awake for the whole tale though every few months she lasted a little longer and on weekends, grandfathers let her stay up longer than father’s ever would.

“I saw you coming, Ti’an said to our fair night. You are here to silence me.” Harry picked up the story easily from long practice. “I am here to help, Galahad swore. I would never take an innocent life. Tell me what you have seen of what preys on your people.”

“You would not believe me, Ti’an declared, You would call me mad just as many do.”

“I would declare no such thing, t’would be unkind and unjust, Galahad promised. Trust me, and I will release you from this torment.” Paige grinned, having this part well memorized.

“You are supposed to be falling asleep,” Harry reminded her.

“Sorry Grandest One,” she said and snuggled back down into the blankets. “Don’t forget Galahad was struck by the beauty of Daddy’s...Ti’an’s eyes.”

Merlin laughed and squeezed the foot near him. “I promise, I can never forget that part.” 

*******************************

“Well, at least the guy is well fit,” Eggsy said softly as he watched Sebastian on the dance floor. “Well fit,” he repeated as the man spun around and started grinding with another bloke.

“Aye, he is an attractive man, from the greater nation as well.”

“Oh fuck off with that, Scotland is the best crap. It was so good your arse would have stayed there,” Eggsy replied. “Going in.” He watched him some more. “Jesus, Merlin look at his arse.”

“I see it.”

“I am going to ruin this guy tonight,” Eggsy was for once almost happy for a honeypot. They weren’t super common for him but happened every once in a while. You did what you had to, to save the world; this time at least he could do so by fucking one hell of a gorgeous man. Eggsy went to the bar and leaned against it and just watched Sebastian. Eventually the man felt the gaze and saw Eggsy. Eggsy toasted him with his drink and raised his brows with a slow smile. 

He waited until the man was very close. “Buy you a drink?”

“Aye,” the man agreed. His lilt was similar to Merlin’s. Soft, smooth. “What you are having looks good.”

Eggsy ordered and they chatted and danced and flirted until Sebastian asked if Eggsy wanted to come over for a nightcap. Eggsy agreed and they went to the man’s flat, which was modest and in the neighbourhood that was being targeted. Sebastian went to the kitchen to get them drinks and Eggsy took a few photos of the flat, planted a few devices. The lights were such that the shadow Sebastian cast showed his gun in hand and Eggsy dove but there were no shots. “Jesus are you some psychopath or something?” He had to play it cool and knew Merlin was ready to send backup.

“I knew eventually someone would come, wanting the photos I had taken, wanting me to be quiet. Appreciate that they sent a handsome bloke like ye, but I’m not going to just let you kill me.”

“Are you insane, I don’t know what you are even talking about,” Eggsy said and Merlin was cursing in his ear and ordering back up. “I don’t need this.” Sebastian thought Eggsy was talking to him, but he was calling Merlin off. Back up right now would be bad. “I just thought you had a great arse that I wanted to plow tonight. Coulda just said no, instead of pulling a fucking gun. I’m a gentleman.”

“MI-5, MI-6, MI-a number that hasn’t been on a telly show?” Sebastian pressed.

“Oh like those wankers can even find their own dick,” Eggsy snapped, annoyed as ever with the more recognized supposedly covert groups. “James Bond, the 00’s all that is made up, you know.”

“And how are you so sure of that?” Sebastian countered. “Look, I don’t know why the government is trying to test chemical weapons on their own people, but you won’t silence me.”

“Why do you think it is the government?”

“Who else would treat the poor and immigrants so shitty except the fucking English government?” Sebastian countered.

Eggsy and Merlin in his ear had to kind of concede that point. “Fuck the House of Lords,” both Eggsy and Merlin said at the same time.

“Private hire, then?” Sebastian bit his lip. “Something is going on, and people I know died. I had just shot their granddaughters wedding and they were nice and let me take home so much food, I was bringing them some proofs of extra photos, and it all went insane. And they are dead and I put the photos online hoping someone would listen. Clued in though that likely the wrong sort would listen.”

Eggsy realized the gun was shaking. “Bruv, you ever held one of those before?”

“Don’t do that, fake a dialect to bond with me. Oooh the chav will fool the idiot Scotsman. And I held it to buy it.”

“Oh god, you need to give me that gun before you shoot yourself in the foot.” Eggsy wanted to wrap him in a blanket. “Because I have a decade of doing shit you can’t even imagine, so trust me when I say if I was here to kill you, you couldn’t stop me.”

Sebastian stuck out his jaw. “No, going to make it a little hard on you.” He held up the gun. It still had the safety on.

Two warm blankets, and give him a stuffie. “I promise, I am here on orders, but nowhere in them was killing you.”

“What are your orders then?”

“Fuck you, get samples for our lab, steal all the photos of the smoke.”

“Not exactly in the mood for a shag no matter how pretty you are,” Sebastian replied. “And why do you need samples?”

“Because you were close to the smoke and lived. We want to know why, maybe our labs can figure out a cure, or vaccine or -”

“Wait, you are trying to fix this?”

“Yeah, why would I do anything else?” Eggsy countered.

“Lots of reasons.”

“Not the villain in this story,” Eggsy said, “I’m the good guy and I want to stop people from dying.”

Sebastian looked at him and then dropped the gun. He rolled up his sleeve. “Take what you need. I’ll give you everything I have.”

Eggsy blinked. “Just like that?”

“If you were going to kill me, you already would have,” Sebastian said. “I don’t want more people to die.”

“Neither do we,” Eggsy said and pulled the small kit out of his jacket.

“So the government actually gives a fuck,” Sebastian laughed a little at the thought.

“No, but the Kingsman do,” Eggsy said and swabbed his cheek.

*******************************************

“The two men worked fiercely together to solve the problem of what plague the village. The seer’s keen and magic eyes, and Galahad’s strength and fighting skills lead them deep into the woods where soon they were surrounding by darkness. It was a moving, living darkness and it crept into their very souls, stalked them -”

“She’s four, you are getting a little dark,” Harry hissed. Before now, she had always fallen asleep during the part where Galahad and Ti’an were distracted from their goals by each other’s beauty.

“I’m okay, Grandest One,” she whispered but was hugging Jonathan extra tight. 

Merlin scooted closer and lay down next to her. “Do you know why stories have villains and monsters, my heart?”

“They’d be boring without them?” she asked.

“To remind us that any of us, if we are good and true can prevail. It might grow very dark, and we might be hurt along the way, but those pure of heart will always triumph,” he kissed her head. “No darkness, no evil, can stand against Galahad.”

“Or Arthur, and definitely not Merlin,” she agreed and snuggled into him. “Merlin is always my favourite,” she whispers. “When you fall asleep watching telly, Grandest One tells me tales of young Merlin. They are the best.”

Merlin looked over her head at Harry who was clearly unrepentant. “Are they now?”

“The best,” she said firmly.

“I’ll be interested to hear one of these tales,” Merlin said and gave her another kiss. “Remember, they might get battered and bruised, but the hero will always win.”

“Especially rated G battles,” Harry said firmly.

“The woods were sort of dark and creepy but the seer was able to cast light and what they thought were death shadows were merely tree branches,” Merlin amended. “And they made their way to the lair of the evil to confront it.”

*********************************************

“Wot the fuck are you doing?” Eggsy shouted.

“Following you,” Sebastian said. “You were going off alone! Everyone who has seen a movie ever knows that’s a bad idea.”

“Going on that logic, they’ll kill you to motivate my man pain!” Eggsy snapped. “I have this.”

“That house, I know who lives in that house. They couldn’t have done this, not to their neighbours, their friends.”

Eggsy shook his head. “Go home Sebastian. This...you don’t want to be a part of what is going to happen.”

“They won’t let a stranger in.”

“I wasn’t going to knock,” Eggsy pointed out.

“You go in guns blazing, you’ll either scare innocents or have them set off like a doomsday device that is what the bad guys always do. You go in with me, you get the lay of the land.”

“It is a sound option,” Merlin said in his ear.

“He’s a civilian,” Eggsy snarled.

“So was everyone who died,” Merlin replied mercilessly.

Eggsy looked at Sebastian. He was gorgeous and clearly stubborn. In another situation he’d want something from him, with him, but that was not to be theirs. “You stay on my left okay?”

“Okay,” Sebastian agreed without knowing why. “Could ye just make me feel a little better? You aren’t talking to voices in your head right?”

Eggsy pointed at his glasses. “Quartermaster piped in.”

“Shit, you are a proper spook aren’t you?”

“I’m a Kingsman,” Eggsy said and nodded to Sebastian. “I’ll keep you safe,” he promised.

An hour later Sebastian ripped the glasses off Eggsy’s face and put them on his own. “He breathed in the smoke. They are all dead but they dosed him and he doesn’t look good. You’ve got to get here fast. He took the hit to stop me from getting it. He knows I am immune why would he do that. Oh god, he looks like he can’t breathe. What do I do? Tell me what do I do?”

“I was watching help was deployed a bit ago, they will be there soon,” Merlin said in a low calm voice. “Listen to me. He saved the world, and now you save him. Do ye understand?”

“I’m just a photographer,” Sebastian said.

“And today you are more, ye are going to be a hero.”

“That’s not me,” Sebastian implored. Eggsy stopped breathing. “Fuck, oh god.”

“Today, ye are,” Merlin said and told him what to do until help arrived.

***************************************************

“And just as Galahad, defeated the evil that was torturing the land, Ti’an saved our brave and noble night. There was rejoicing in the village and honours were bestowed on them both. And when he was well, Galahad left the village, left Ti’an, even though he was taken with the seer’s beautiful eyes,” Merlin told her. She was barely awake between the soothing voices and Merlin’s body heat.

“He returned home to Arthur and Merlin and told them the story. But the great victory brought him no joy and eventually they realized that he had lost his heart to Ti’an but had returned, because duty to protecting the world comes first, always.” Harry moved to the bed and kissed her head and held Merlin’s hand.

“But Arthur and Merlin told Galahad that there was no point in saving the world, if you denied yourself love, the truest and greatest magic there ever was. And so with their permission and leave, Galahad returned to the village and courted Ti’an and they fell in love. Ti’an moved to be with Galahad and though Galahad traveled far and wide, he always came home to his true love.”

“Dad always comes home,” she said sleepily.

“He does,” Merlin agreed. “Goodnight, my heart.”

“Night Grandpa. Night Grandest One,” she said and held sleepy arms up for another hug. They tucked her in tight and turned all lights but her night light off. At the door they whispered one last good night.

“Did magic only exist before I was born?” she asked. “I don’t see any.”

“Look carefully,” Merlin told her. “I see it in ye every day.”

“That’s because you are Merlin,” she said, “the be-” she fell asleep mid word.

They went downstairs and poured a drink and Merlin smiled a cunning smile at Harry. “Now let us talk about what tales ye are telling that lass hmmm?”

“True ones, about the bravest, wisest man I have ever known,” Harry said and kissed Merlin’s hand. 

“Don’t think being suave will get ye out of this,” Merlin warned. “Eggsy is already on us for the tales we tell her.” But he held Harry close and they sat in contented silence.

***********************************

Sebastian had an appointment with a Gary who wanted nice portraits of his little sister for mother’s day. They had agreed to a park and a time and he was headed to the suggested bench and stopped, gobsmacked. “You,” he said as he moved closer. “You gave a fake name.”

“No that’s my birth name, just don’t use it much. Eggsy is what I go by.”

“Even a sister?” Sebastian asked.

“Right there on the swings,” Eggsy pointed. “I owe you. Don’t like owing people, so figure pay for your best package start to make the accounts right.”

“My best package is in my pants,” Sebastian said without thinking and flushed a bit at the way Eggsy laughed. “And you clear any perceived debt if you forget I said that.” He sat next to Eggsy. “You saved how many lives, of people I know, friends, innocents. How could you owe me anything?”

“Because you saved me,” Eggsy said. He smiled at Sebastian. “You are beautiful.”

“I won’t talk, ye don’t have to do that,” Sebastian said.

“I know you won’t, and that doesn’t negate how bloody gorgeous you are.” Eggsy smiled and waved at Daisy. “Apparently I talk about you. A lot. My bosses said if I didn’t at least try, they’d murder me in my sleep.”

“You seem too nice to kill.”

“Would that everyone thought that.” Daisy came running over and Eggsy caught her. Eggsy looked at Sebastian. “Hi, Sebastian, I’m Eggsy and this is my sister Daisy. Think you can take some nice photos of us?”

“I can do that.” Sebastian smiled at him. “Are you sure I’m the photographer you want?”

“I’d like the chance to find out,” Eggsy said.

“I like finding out things too,” Sebastian agreed. He stood up. “Let’s see what happens.”

What happens is as Grandpa and Grandest One always says for Paige, they all lived happily ever after.


End file.
